Tom Purcell: Advice on affording ObamaCare

"Look, if you want ObamaCare, you are just going to have to make some better budgeting decisions."

"Budgeting decisions? I make $36,000 a year. The best deal I could find on ObamaCare, with subsidies, is $350 a month. That is a hefty 10 percent of my income!"

"Like President Obama recently said at a Spanish-speaking town hall, all you have to do is prioritize your budget better. I'll bet if we look at your cable bill, cell phone bill and other things you are spending on, we will find your priorities are not good."

"My priorities! Do you know how little $36,000 is? Have you seen the price of food lately? Produce is so high, the wife and kids and I are going without salad many nights."

"Maybe you ought to plant a garden and grow your own. That would be the environmentally responsible thing to do."

"Our electricity costs are soaring, too - the EPA is driving that by writing new rules that are hurting coal-fired electric plants."

"We're doing that for your own good. Besides, it isn't the government's fault that you probably hoarded inefficient incandescent light bulbs that waste heat and burn more energy. People like you cause your own problems."

"Gasoline prices are out of sight. Federal gasoline taxes aren't helping and the government is not letting refineries expand. With global demand for gas growing, prices will keep going up. We can't afford gas on my salary now."

"You are driving an SUV, aren't you? For your own good, the government bailed out GM and lost $10 billion in taxpayer money - and promoted environmentally friendly electric and hybrid cars in the process. They get way better mileage than your SUV."

"We can't afford a Chevy Volt. Are you listening? We can't afford any of the things our expanding federal government is foisting on us - least of all ObamaCare. You promised to make health insurance less expensive, but costs are soaring!"

"Such ingratitude. Look, smart people in Washington have been making important decisions that you simply are not smart enough to make yourself."

"Really? Then why does Medicare Part D, a successful entitlement program that provides drugs to the elderly poor, work so well? Under Part D, seniors are free to choose among a variety of benefits, costs and plans offered by private insurers. According to the Heartland Institute, Medicare trustees estimated a 2013 average monthly cost of $61 - the actual costs are half that."

"Look, there have been some bumps in the road, but that's partly because people like you aren't getting with the program."

"Getting with the program? You imposed a massive overhaul on a health system that the majority of Americans were happy with. You forced the policies to cover things many people don't need or want and you imposed all kinds of new taxes. It would have been cheaper and easier to leave the existing system intact and give subsidies to people of modest means to buy their own policies."

"How selfish you are being. We need everyone in the pool for this thing to work. Sure, people who can pay will pay more to subsidize people who can't pay. So quit your whining and embrace your duty. Become a willing participant in our government's collectivist effort to control everyone's health care - or the IRS will track you down and impose a fine!"

"You still aren't listening. I make $36,000 a year, just like the fellow at the Spanish-speaking town hall. Even if I was willing, I cannot afford to spend 10 percent of my income on ObamaCare!"

Tom Purcell, author of "Comical Sense: A Lone humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" and "Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood," is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Email him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com.